So sorry this chapter is a day late, everyone!

Ultimate Queen of Cliffies: Personally, I'm not completely sure what Ona meant, either. I just learned over the years that one doesn't question Megan and just use what she gives you and figure it out later.

ElphieNeedsAHug: Don't worry! I'm not gonna kill EVERYONE! At least one person has to live to tell the story.


"Wait! Elphaba, we don't have to leave right now," Fiyero said as she got ready to mount the horse.

"What are you talking about? Ona said my family is in Munchkinland. That's where we're going."

"But… I mean… we're in the Emerald City!"

"And? This was only meant to be a shortcut to Munchkinland, remember?"

"I remember, but still… we're in the Emerald City! We can stay and sightsee for a while. Your family isn't going anywhere."

"You don't know that."

"I do." The Vinkun gently took her hands in his. "You've been under a lot of stress and pressure this whole time. You deserve a little break."

Elphaba frowned. "I don't need a break."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't!"

"Just for an hour or two! Please!"

"Fine! If it will get you to shut up, fine!" Elphaba sighed.

Fiyero grinned at her and grabbed her hand. "Let's go have some fun." They stopped at the tourist booth and picked up their green glasses.

"Wow. Everything looks… like me," Elphaba said when she put them on.

Fiyero smiled as he watched Elphaba look around the city. He had never seen her smile like that before. She looked truly free. She looked like she didn't have a care in the world. He liked seeing her like that. If only it happened more often. "Let's go!" he said, taking her hand and leading her through the street.

Maia and Carisse were sitting outside a nearby café. Maia was reading a magazine while Carisse watched the tourists walk past. Since everything and everyone looked green due to the glasses, she completely missed Elphaba and Fiyero as they walked right past them.

"Maia?" the younger girl said.

"Hmm?" Maia hummed, half-distracted.

"Don't you think we should get back to our search for Elphaba?"

"We have time."

"Not as much time as you think."

The two girls looked up and saw a green-hued Galinda standing in front of them.

"Galinda!" Carisse said, taking off her glasses. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just about to ask you girls the exact same question. Aren't you supposed to be finding Elphie?"

"We are. We're just… taking a break," Maia said.

"Elphie's here. In the city. Right now!"

"H-How do you know?"

"My magic mirror showed me."

"You have a magic mirror?"

"Yes, but that's besides the point! The point is that we need to find her and fast! I have a feeling trouble's about to start, and I don't want to be around here when it does."

"What kind of trouble?" Carisse asked.

A sudden strong wind blew and that was the only answer the girls needed. "Let's go," Maia said, folding her magazine and placing it in her bag.

"Hey, where's Sera?" Galinda asked as she followed the girls.

"That's kind of a long story," Maia said softly.

"She was attacked by a minotaur," Carisse said. "Well, we all were, but the minotaur got her."

"Was she…?" Galinda whispered.

Maia nodded grimly.

The blonde gasped as tears sprang to her eyes.

"Let's just focus on finding Elphaba for now," Carisse said, gently touching the blonde's shoulder.

"But how? Everyone here is green. How are we going to recognize Elphaba?" Maia asked.

"I have an idea," Carisse smirked as she reached over and removed Maia's glasses from her face. "Better?"

Maia scowled. "I could have done that."

"But you didn't."

"You know what? You can just…"

Before Galinda knew it, both girls were involved in a full-fledged argument. It lasted all of two minutes before Carisse suddenly stopped, staring at Maia with wide eyes. She relaxed and gave the older girl a goofy smile, successfully freaking her out.

"I love you, Maia!" Carisse smiled as she engulfed the older girl in a big hug.

"What the…" Maia muttered, horrified.

Galinda looked up and frowned. "Cupid, do you mind?"

The winged-baby slowly floated down and landed in Galinda's arms, giving her his best 'innocent baby' look.

"That stupid look isn't going to work on my, mister! Can you go five minutes without causing problems?" Galinda growled.

"Goo-goo, ga-ga," baby Cupid gurgled.

"You're so fake," Galinda sighed. "Go back to Momsie."

"You're not the boss of me!" Cupid pouted.

"Oh, but I am, unless you want Momsie to take away your love arrows for a month… maybe in February."

Cupid seemed to consider this, then disappeared in a sweet-smelling puff of cloud. The blonde let out a sigh of relief.

"Ah, Galinda, how long is this gonna last?" Maia asked, looking down at the younger girl hugging her as if she were something gross on the bottom of her sandal.

"Usually around twenty-four hours, but luckily, I have a tiny bit left of the antidote left," Galinda said, pulling a tiny vial of bright yellow liquid.

"Thank Oz. I don't know how much more of Lady Swoon-Swoon I can take," Maia said as she took the bottle and forced the liquid down Carisse's throat.

The nymph coughed and shook her head. "Wh-What happened?"

"You don't wanna know, and I don't wanna relive it," Maia said, gently patting the younger girl's shoulder.

"I just hope Cupid didn't get to Elphaba before we caught him," Galinda said. "That would be very bad. Even though it would be very cute to see Elphie in love. She deserves it after everything she's been through."

Maia and Carisse simply gave the blonde a look and decided not to give her the speech on why the huntresses couldn't fall in love. If they told her once… they told her a thousand times before.

"Where is Elphaba now?" Carisse asked.

Galinda reached into her purse for her mirror, but her face fell. "I must have left it at home. But I know she's somewhere in the city."

"This city is huge. She could be anywhere," Maia groaned.

"Then we'd better get started," Carisse said. "We can split up. We'll each go in different directions. We'll meet back in front of the palace in an hour, whether we have Elphaba or not."

"Okay," Maia nodded, giving her friend a hug and running off.

Galinda gave Carisse a soft smile before hurrying away, leaving the nymph alone. "Elphaba, where are you?" she whispered softly to the wind before going her own way.


Seraphia moaned as she slowly opened her eyes. The last thing she remembered was being in the clutches of the minotaur and Maia…

Maia.

The girl's eyes widened. And Carisse! Were they both okay? Where were they? And where was she? The demigod looked around at her dark and gloomy surroundings. Was she dead? No, she was still breathing and her wrists and feet bindings were painful.

"Oh. You're awake."

Seraphia turned towards the voice and frowned, seeing a young man step out from the shadows. "Who are you and what am I doing here?"

"I'm Nel," the man said, stopping a few feet away from Seraphia. The girl saw that he was holding a plate of moldy bread and a glass of water and she prayed to her mother that it wasn't for her.

"And what am I doing h- where am I, exactly?"

"You're in Hades' private lair."

"That's just great," Seraphia muttered. "What am I doing here?"

"Lord Hades requested your presence."

"And he couldn't have just asked me to stop by for a visit instead of sending a minotaur to capture me?"

"You would have said no."

"Damn right I would have!" Seraphia yelled. "Who wants to visit the lord of the dead? I don't have a death wish!"

The young man stepped back. "I'm only doing as I was ordered."

Seraphia regarded him. "Are you one of those wimps who was dumb enough to sell your soul to Hades because he promised you something, then went back on his promise." She leaned forward slightly. "Was it over a girl? Did you do it to save her and then she repays you by running off with someone else less than a day later?"

Nel recoiled, but quickly recovered. "You are in no position to speak to me like that."

"That means its true. I'm sorry –actually, I'm not- but you just fell for the oldest trick in the book."

Nel looked very offended.

"And I don't have pity for people who kidnap me, so don't even ask."

Nel scowled and threw the moldy bread in the demigod's face and poured the water on her head before storming out.

"When I get out of this, you are going down! Even farther down than you already are now!" Seraphia shouted, silently reminding herself to come up with better threats.

A few minutes later, the door opened again and the lord of the dead entered. His jet black hair was a bit disheveled on his face and his dark brown (almost black) eyes stared emotionlessly straight ahead of him. His black robes flowed behind him, giving him the appearance of floating.

"Speak of the devil," Seraphia muttered as Hades stepped closer to her.

"Ah, Miss Seraphia, how nice of you to stop by," Hades said as he waved his hand and a chair appeared. He sat across from the demigod, looking very casual and relaxed.

"Now nice of you to kidnap me," Seraphia retorted, a plastering a fake smile on her face.

"My apologies. I meant to bring your other two friends down here, but I guess Typhoon got distracted by something and only brought you."

"Typhoon?"

"The minotaur."

"You… you named the minotaur… you know what, never mind. I don't wanna know. But I do wanna know why I'm down here."

"That's very simple, my dear. You're leverage."

"I'm what?"

"Leverage. Against the gods on Olympus."

"This better be good."

"While all the gods are out looking for green-what's-her-face, I can access Mt. Olympus and take over."

"Haven't you given up on that? Every time you try, you only fail. Not only are you the god of the dead, but you're also the god of 'Stupid things not to do unless you want to get your butt kicked by Zeus'."

The lord of the Underworld shot up and grabbed Seraphia by the front of her toga. The girl stiffened slightly, but smirked. "If you don't like it, I can always change the name to something more catchy. Just let me sleep on it."

"You think that you can speak to me anyway you wish because I can't kill you and force you to stay down here forever."

Seraphia was still smirking. The spell Artemis used to turn her Huntresses immortal was so powerful, only she could break it. They could also be killed in battle, but that's a completely different story that didn't have any relevance at the moment.

"And wipe that smirk off your face!" Hades shouted.

"Is this anyway to treat your great-niece, Uncle Hades?" Seraphia asked, trying her best to sound innocent without throwing up. "And I came all this way to visit you. I'm your guest."

"You're my ticket to getting Olympus. I just have to find a way to get the other two girls down here."

"And what do you plan on doing then?"

Hades paused. "Why would I tell you? I am not a fool."

Seraphia was going to comment on that, but decided against it. All she could was watch as Hades threw her back into her chair and left, slamming the door behind him. She closed her eyes and focused on trying to get herself out of the bindings. Whoever tied her up, probably Nel, sucked at tying knots. Even though they were painful, she twisted her wrist and was able to pull her hands free. She undid her leg bindings and stood up. She heard voices from outside, probably Hades and Nel, and decided to eavesdrop.

"I want you to send Pasithea up there to find a daughter of Apollo named Maia and a nymph named Carisse. They are both in the Emerald City," Hades said.

"What do you plan on doing with them?" Nel asked.

"I might as well tell you, since you won't be able to stop me. I will remove their powers at Huntresses and harness them into myself, therefore giving me just enough power to take over Olympus."

"But… their just demigods… well, two of them ago, and the nymph…"

"You don't understand how powerful the Huntresses are. They have divine power from Artemis. That power combined with being a demigod… they might as well be Olympians themselves. And the nymph is almost as powerful as the two demigods are. Now, go find Pasithea. This plan must be set into motion immediately."

Footsteps grew fainter and Seraphia stepped back. So that's what Hades wanted. She couldn't believe that after all these centuries, he's still bitter about getting stuck in the Underworld. She just had to get out of there. She had a plan, but she had to wait for Maia and Carisse to get here to do so.


Maia was walking past a shop when she heard a voice calling to her. She looked up, not seeing anyone addressing her, and kept walking. The voice kept getting louder and louder and Maia realized it was coming from the alley behind one of the cafés. Frowning slightly, she followed the calling and gasped when she saw who was calling her.

"Mother?" she whispered, blinking.

A woman who looked like an older version of Maia smiled. "Hello, Maia."

"But… how…what… why…"

"I've missed you so much," the woman said as she opened up her arms.

Maia hesitated. She had seen her mother's dead body over one hundred years ago. She knew there was no possible way she was alive. She didn't know what was going on. "Say something only my mother would know."

The woman didn't waste a second. "When you were little, you were afraid of the dark and thunderstorms."

"So are a lot of little children."

"Every time it got dark or started thunder storming, you would call to your father to bring the sun back out. You hated it when you couldn't see the sun because you felt like your father wasn't there. One night, as it was thunder storming, we sat together on your bed and I told you that even when the sun went down, your father would always be with you, watching over the both of us. After that, I give you ice cream with honey and…"

"Two dashes of cinnamon," Maia said along with her mother.

"And the next day, the sun would come out and you were happy again."

Maia blinked back tears as she remembered that conversation with her mother. It was something that not even her closest friends knew about her old life before becoming a Huntress. She rushed into her mother's arms and wrapped her arms around her. "Mama… I've missed you, Mama…"

"I've missed you, too, my precious spring flower," her mother said, wrapping her arms around her.

Maia melted at hearing her old nickname. It felt good to hear it after so many years. She felt her mother's arms tighten around her before everything went black.

Fiyero smiled as he and Elphaba walked through the streets of the Emerald City. He hadn't felt this carefree in a long time, and he knew this was Elphaba's first time feeling loose and free. He gently slipped his hand into hers as they walked, and smiled when she didn't pull away. She was finally beginning to let her guard down around him and they were becoming friends.

"Do you like it?" Fiyero asked as Elphaba tried the caramel ice cream her bought her.

"It's… sweet," Elphaba said, taking another spoonful. "I like it."

"Caramel is my favorite flavor, too," Fiyero smiled.

Elphaba smiled back. "I can see why."

Carisse was watching the scene from a distance. She had been following Elphaba for a while, but didn't want to blow her cover. She couldn't believe that Elphaba was traveling with a guy, and even though she hated to admit it, he wasn't even that bad. He seemed like a pretty good guy. Cute even, especially when he smiled and his dimples would appear and…

The nymph quickly snapped out of it. No. She had to keep her mindset. She couldn't allow herself to be distracted. She was here to find Elphaba and that's it. She was about to march over to her and get her away from that guy when she heard a voice calling to her. She turned and saw someone she hadn't seen in forever.

"Hey, Carisse," a young male said, giving the huntress a boyish grin.

"T-Tol?" Carisse whispered, staring at the boy with sandy, blonde hair, brown eyes, freckles, and a smile that used to melt her heart. "Wh-What are you doing here? How can this be? I haven't seen you in over fifty years… and you still look seventeen."

"So do you."

Carisse blushed and walked over to him. "I've missed you," she whispered, brushing her hair away from her face.

"I've missed you, too. And… I'm sorry about what happened the last time we were together."

"It's okay."

Tol had been a previous boyfriend of the huntress. They were together for a relatively short time, having done their time as good friends, before Tol began to realize that Carisse wasn't like the other flirty nymphs and dumped her.

"I should have just accepted you for who you are. We have some really fun times together."

"We did," Carisse blushed.

Tol smiled and pulled his old friend onto a hug. The two stayed in each other's arms for a while before Carisse felt him gently squeeze her and everything went black.

"Are you ready now?" Elphaba asked once she finished the ice cream. "We have a long ride to Munchkinland."

The Vinkun sighed, but nodded and got up, throwing away their garbage and walked with Elphaba back to their horse. After making sure they had their belongings, they mounted and Elphaba urged the horse forward and they galloped down the yellow brick road.


In other news, I have my college orientation overnight tomorrow! I'm super pumped!

Don't worry. Our different groups will meet up soon. Only a few more chapters left!